Friday, April 7, 2017

INDUSTRY UPDATES • READER COMMENTS

SIGN UP NOW FOR PUBLIC RADIO TECH SURVEY 9

Jody Evans, CEO of
the Public Radio Program Directors (PRPD), sends word that stations should sign
up now for Public Radio Tech Survey 9.
The annual survey conducted by Jacobs Media has become a benchmark study of
media usage, platform preferences and perceptual trends.

click to enlarge

The chart on the
left is the Media Usage Pyramid for 2016. Public
Radio Tech Survey 9 will put increased emphasis on apps and the mobile web,
the latest on Connected Cars, and acceptance and use of handsets and ear buds.

There is a modest
fee for participating stations but the results are more than worth the
expenditure. The Public Radio Tech
Surveys have become an essential yardstick to understand how our listeners
adopting various devices and platforms. Participating stations have access to
national data and proprietary use of data for their own listeners.

Results will be
presented at the Public Radio Content Conference, August 14 – 17. For more
information call Lisa Riker at Jacobs Media 248.353.0709.

PUBLIC MEDIA ENGINEERS
GATHER AT THE NAB IN LAS VEGAS

Public media’s gear
heads, information technology and new media folks will gather Thursday, April
20th, and Friday, April 21st, a the Public Radio Engineering
Conference (PREC) held concurrently with NAB Show. The PREC is being held at Tuscany
Suites & Casino in Las Vegas. The Association of Public Radio Engineers are
sponsoring the PREC.

Complete
information, including a schedule of sessions, is available here.

The Public Radio
Satellite System (PRSS) will be making a special presentation at 8:15am on
Friday (4/21) about the evolution of MetaPub and metadata trends. The session
will feature Megan Williams, PRSS' Product Manager; Matt Walther, Senior Manager
of Distribution Operations; NPR's David Julian Gray; and Phil Burger, KNPR
Director of Broadcast Operations.

PRSS will also
present an update on the work being done with the Future Systems, including an
update on the RFP process, and the Technical Advisory Group. The session
is at 11:15am, also on Friday (4/21). Featured speakers will be Mike Beach, NPR’s
VP for Distribution and Ron Walker, Senior Director of Information Systems.

READER COMMENT ONE

On March 31st,
we announced and saluted three new members of the PRPD Board of Directors
[link]. They are Kristen
Muller of KPCC, Jacqueline Cincotta of WNYC and Fred Jacobs of Jacobs Media.

In the post we
praised the ongoing work of Fred Jacobs on behalf of our collective enterprise.
We said the Jacobs’ efforts have helped public radio become more effective and
sustainable.

We received this
note from Fred Jacobs:

Fred Jacobs

Ken, this is very kind and I
am very appreciative.

I am truly excited about this
opportunity to serve PRPD, and by extension, public radio. It’s an
interesting shot for them to choose someone from the outside like me. My
brother, Paul, has served on the Greater Public board for several years now
(and rose to chairman). He’s done an amazing job in that capacity.
We probably paved the way for me with PRPD.

It is wonderful the big
players in public radio welcome us into their world, and feel that we bring
something a little different to the table because of our backgrounds.

Ken, truly thank you for this.

Fred

LISTENER COMMENT TWO

Neil Sargent & his grand kids in 2016

The past Wednesday
(4/5) we paid tribute to one of my mentors, Neil Sargent, who passed away
recently at the age of 85. Neil was my boss at Transtar Radio Network and a
friend of many years.

Tom Taylor kindly
mentioned my tribute to Neil in his daily newsletter [link] and I heard from
several co-workers at Transtar who also praised Neil. I received this comment
from one of them, Skip Joeckel, owner and operator of syndication firm Talk Shows USA [link]:

Ken, What you wrote about Neil
wasbeautiful!!

Thank you for saying what so
many of us who worked for Neil would have said.

I saw the attached photo
on Neil's Facebook page.

KEN SAYS: What I learned from Neil was sales survival skills. Though I
had been involved in business prior to working at Transtar, I had never
received any sales training. Here are some skills I learned from Neil that I
use everyday:

• Where did you prospect today?

Neil knew the
importance of identifying new clients, a practice known in sales as
“prospecting.” Neil’s tips for prospecting are essential to the success of my
consulting business, now in it’s 20th year. Consulting is like a
roller coaster: When you are at the top of the cycle, it is easy to get
lazy.When you are at the bottom,
sometimes things are so grim you don’t know where to start. The way to deal
with the highs and lows of sales is to have new clients in the wings.

• Are you talking to the monkey or the organ
grinder?

This is an
old-school way of saying “make certain you are talking to a decision maker.” In
other words, don’t waste time by pitching to people who don’t have the
authority to say “yes.”

• Have you checked the “intel” before
contacting a potential client?

Neil stressed the
importance of knowing the person and company before making a sales pitch. He
was a believer is “G-2” word-on-the-street perspective sometimes offered by
competitors. On of Neil’s favorite ways of getting information on a prospective
client was to call the station after hours and talk with a part-timer who can
tell you the “temperature” of the place you want to pitch.

• Make certain to arrive early at the
airport and be your gate on time.

These are things
Neil seldom did.When I traveled with
Neil, I was his “bag man” and helper. Before 9/11 air travel was more informal.While waiting for a flight to depart Neil
often had a few more calls to make.This
business was most often done in an airport bar. Neil typically wanted make
calls and have a drink until the very last moment.It was my job to make certain he got on the
plane.

Thankfully, he
always made it. However, I found Neil’s habits raised my blood pressure into
the sky.Now, I am always at an airport
early and at the gate before boarding begins.